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60 World Cities ranked by how well known they are

19K views 206 replies 60 participants last post by  TooFar 
#1 ·
US Cities in bold

How The World Views Its Cities
The Presence
This point of the City Brand Hexagon is
all about the city’s international status and
standing. In this section, we ask how
familiar people are with each of the 60
cities in the survey, whether they have
actually visited them or not, and ask what
the cities are famous for. We also ask
whether each city has made an important
contribution to the world in culture,
science, or in the way cities are governed,
during the last 30 years.

The Place
Here, we explore people’s perceptions
about the physical aspect of each city: How
pleasant or unpleasant they imagine it to be
outdoors and to travel around the city, how
beautiful it is, and what the climate is like.

The Potential
This point of the City Brand Hexagon
considers the economic and educational
opportunities that each city is believed to
offer visitors, businesses and immigrants.
We ask our global panel how easy they
think it would be to find a job in the city,
and if they had a business, how good of
a place they think it would be to do
business. Finally, we ask whether each
city would be a good place for them or
other family members to get a higher
educational qualification.

The Pulse
The appeal of a vibrant urban lifestyle is an
important part of each city’s brand image.
In this section, we explore how exciting
people think the cities are, and ask how
easy they think it would be to find
interesting things to do, both as a shortterm
visitor and a long-term resident.

The People
The people make the city, and in this point
of the hexagon, we ask whether our
respondents think the inhabitants would be
warm and friendly, or cold and prejudiced
against outsiders. We ask whether they
think it would be easy for them to find
and fit into a community that shares their
language and culture. Finally, and very
importantly, we ask our global panel how
safe they think they would feel in the city.

The Prerequisites
This is the section where we ask people
about how they perceive the basic qualities
of the city: What they think it would be
like to live there, how easy they think it
would be to find satisfactory, affordable
accommodation, and what they believe
the general standard of public amenities
is like – schools, hospitals, public transport,
sports facilities, and so on.

For the 2006 edition of the Anholt City Brands Index, we have doubled the
number of cities included in the survey, from 30 to 60. The new cities included in the survey are: Melbourne, Montreal, Vancouver, Copenhagen, Munich, Boston, Las Vegas, Seattle, Chicago, Atlanta, Dublin, Philadelphia, Oslo, Lisbon, Helsinki, Dallas, New Orleans, St. Petersburg, Buenos Aires, Seoul, Reykjavik, Budapest, Shanghai, Warsaw, Havana, Jerusalem, Bangkok, Dubrovnik, Manila and Nairobi.

The survey was conducted online
among 15,255 men and women aged
18-64 from a wide range of income
groups in the following countries:
Australia, Brazil, Canada, China,
Denmark, France, Germany, India, Italy,
Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, the
Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland,
Russia, Spain, the United Kingdom
and the United States.


2006 City Brands Index
1 Sydney
2 London
3 Paris
4 Rome
5 New York
6 Washington DC
7 San Francisco

8 Melbourne
9 Barcelona
10 Geneva
11 Amsterdam
12 Madrid
13 Montreal
14 Toronto
15 Los Angeles
16 Vancouver
17 Berlin
18 Brussels
19 Milan
20 Copenhagen
21 Munich
22 Tokyo
23 Boston
24 Las Vegas
25 Seattle

26 Stockholm
27 Chicago
28 Atlanta

29 Dublin
30 Ediburgh
31 Philadelphia
32 Oslo
33 Lisbon
34 Prague
35 Singapore
36 Helsinki
37 Hong Kong
38 Dallas
39 New Orleans

40 St Petersburg(Russia)
41 Rio de Janeiro
42 Buenos Aires
43 Beijing
44 Seoul
45 Reykjavik
46 Budapest
47 Shanghai
48 Moscow
49 Johannesburg
50 Mexico City
51 Warsaw
52 Havana
53 Jerusalem
54 Bangkok
55 Cairo
56 Dubrovnik
57 Mumbai
58 Manila
59 Lagos
60 Nairobi




http://www.citybrandsindex.com/downloads/cbi2006-q4-free.pdf
 
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#128 · (Edited)
yes and here i have to repeat my self again
yes and if you travel to disneyworld what city do you have to go to? Im pretty sure 99% of the tourists in the world know what city they are in when they go to theme parks, unless they are retarded.
If they dont know the city they are travelling to they have some problems.

But in my opinion the actual theme parks are known much more than the city.
the theme parks are PART of the city, they are what the city has to offer, JUST LIKE NYC has huge buildings to offer and cancun has beaches to offer etc.

Orlando is 'mickey mouse town' just like miami is 'south beach', nyc is 'skyscrapers'(and much more, NYC is the best city in US imo) etc.
 
#131 ·
A visitor to Orlando will certainly know the city exists. But they probably don't learn much about the city other than what they see to and from the theme parks and hotel. To score high on a brand survey other aspects of the city have to be familiar. Also, the survey included people whether they've been to a city or not, so a city's image among people who haven't visited is important. Further, I agree that the 47.8m figure is probably weighted heavily toward people from the SW US who might go repeatedly, though it certainly includes millions from outside the region every year also.
 
#134 ·
Of course what do you think? If you are spending days at a city visiting its theme parks you are in the city and visiting it. Just like if you went to cancun to only see the beach you visited cancun. If i went to NY to only look at central park, i would have visited 'ny'. If i went to NY to just look at a 1 building in the bronx(not even manhatten) then flew back 5 hours later i still 'visited' NYC.

It's also funny because basically everysingle thing you buy at disney or anytheme park has the word 'orlando' on it, yes if you are visiting a theme park you are visiting orlando. So if i go to osaka and only visit the castle i didnt go to osaka and stayed in there and visited it?
Visit
1. to go to and stay with (a person or family) or at (a place) for a short time for reasons of sociability, politeness, business, curiosity, etc
If this was about 'downtown's of the cities then i would understand that 'downtown' orlando is not well known in the world.
 
#137 ·
Maki-chan, I am a marketing manager at a firm in Ginza, and we are heavily into branding. I think you might be confused on what branding actually is - and let's be clear, this survey was specifically about branding, nothing else. Branding aspects include names, logos, slogans, and/or design schemes associated with a product or service. Brand recognition and other reactions are created by the use of the product or service and through the influence of advertising, design, and media commentary. A brand is a symbolic embodiment of all the information connected to the product and serves to create associations and expectations around it.

Branding is not about how well-known a product is, how often a product is purchased (or in the case of cities, how often they are visited), or how well a product performs. Branding can influence some of these factors, but branding is far more concerned with managing how a product is perceived. Wal-mart is one of the most well-known brands in America, but despite this, it suffers from awful brand perception. "Well-known" does not equal "highly regarded."

In the contemporary world of global commerce and travel, cities themselves are products to be branded and sold to both domestic and international audiences. How cities are perceived varies from market to market, but such variances can largely be controlled for with sound, consistent brand management. One of the most critical aspects of proper brand management is listening to what consumers say about your product - actually listening, not just hearing what you would like to hear. As a marketing manager, I find this thread and the responses people are giving (specifically about Orlando) to be a great example of why certain branding campaigns fail. While the amount of respondents in this thread is too limited in scope and too narrow in terms of demographics to be taken too seriously, what is clear to me is that people associate Orlando as a stop-over for their Disney vacations. Vacationers, both domestic and international, generally go to Orlando for the theme parks and spend little time Downtown or anywhere else, and as a consequence, people have no real perception of the City of Orlando other than as "the place I need to go to in order to visit Disney." Now, this is nothing to take personally; this is the fault of Orlando civic leaders for not leveraging their city's quite enviable location next to the largest concentration of upscale theme parks on Earth.

Facts and figures (i.e. the number of people who visit Orlando every year, no matter how high that number is) often times have nothing to do with perception of value, place or brand. Orlando could statistically be "the best" city in North America - it could have the lowest cost of living, the highest median family income, lowest crime rate per capita, most museums, the Fountain of Youth and Christ Returned - but if such assets aren't leveraged and if civic leaders don't successfully use them to brand Orlando in a positive light, then "reality" will have no marked affect on how some guy in Birmingham UK or Fukuoka perceives Orlando.

Sydney is a prime example of a city which has consciously refined its brand over the past 30 years to such a degree that its name has become synonymous throughout the traveling world with terms like "quality", "safety" , "natural beauty" and a host of other positive terms. I don't know what's going on down in Kansai these days, but throughout greater Tokyo, you will see Sydney adverts with beautifully tanned Aussie guys and girls with perfect bodies and smiles having fun on the beach with the Sydney Opera House clearly visible in the background. You constantly see the "So where the bloody hell are ya?" commercials on JR trains and on TV. The Sydney Olympics were an amazingly successful branding vehicle, showcasing the city's charms to literally hundreds of millions of people all around the world who watched the 2000 Summer Games on TV. Orlando simply has never successfully pulled off a branding campaign to the degree that Sydney has.

Take heart though; it would seem that Orlando is stuck with a "brand-neutral" image. People think of it as "that place where the airport is I had to land in to go to Disney." This is hardly a positive image, but at least its not negative. People aren't saying "Orlando is dirty and filled with crime". Orlando is in a solid position to take advantage of its proximity to Disney. Most other US cities would kill to be in such a position (seriously, be thankful you're not trying to manage St. Louis or Detroit's branding efforts!).
 
#138 · (Edited)
Everything you just said i know, hence i said
If this was about 'downtown's of the cities then i would understand that 'downtown' orlando is not well known in the world.
But orlando, the place where disney is ,is indeed well known not the downtown but orlando is, and if you dont think so then good for you. I guess Orlando doesnt even exist to you people, pathetic. Crazy how even americans themselves bash one of their own tourists capitals it's like americans dont even want to agree that orlando even exists it's just some invisible place with 6 tourists(and the only ones that come are americans) and no one knows it, if you were japanese or from another country i would understand.

And how is sydney more popular than NYC in japan? You see NY fasion everywhere in japan, other then the occasional australian tourist commercials i dont see anything of sydney whatsoever yet NY fasion, music etc dominates. From hip hop to ny hats to movies.
 
#141 ·
Everything you just said i know, hence i said

But orlando, the place where disney is ,is indeed well known not the downtown but orlando is, and if you dont think so then good for you. I guess Orlando doesnt even exist to you people, pathetic. Crazy how even americans themselves bash one of their own tourists capitals it's like americans dont even want to agree that orlando even exists it's just some invisible place with 6 tourists(and the only ones that come are americans) and no one knows it, if you were japanese or from another country i would understand.
Maki dear, I personally have no opinion of Orlando. I am not bashing or boosting the place; I am merely reflecting on why Orlando appears to have brand-neutral equity. This is why I specifically mentioned "you need to really listen to what consumers are saying about your product." You seem to take personal offense to people's perceptions - or lack thereof - of Orlando. This is not a healthy response in terms of managing brand perception. Telling potential customers "you idiots just don't understand how great the product I am selling really is, you're pathetic" will not help change your brand perception in a positive way; it will instead just turn people off to your product all together.

And how is sydney more popular than NYC in japan? You see NY fasion everywhere in japan, other then the occasional australian tourist commercials i dont see anything of sydney whatsoever yet NY fasion, music etc dominates. From hip hop to ny hats to movies.
This survey was not localized to Japan; it included respondents from nations throughout Europe, North America, Oceania and Pacific Asia. If this survey were to have been conducted exclusively in Japan, I have little doubt that Honolulu, LA, SF and NY would have all scored at or above Sydney's level. Please understand that Sydney officials spend $millions annually on advertising throughout Europe (especially in the UK and Ireland), Pacific Asia (HK, Singapore and S. Korea in particular) and in select North American markets (the West Coast). Also understand that Australia enjoys a very positive image throughout the Anglosphere; Australia is now the number-one destination for UK immigrants, and close to 2 million Australians were born in the UK (that's nearly 10% of the entire population of Australia!).
 
#139 ·
Im not sure but isnt Disney outside the city limits? Im not completely sure, because I dont think the city limits go that far south.
Because Disney World does brand it self as Diney World Florida not Orlando.

But I know Universal does brand itself with the Orlando name and im pretty sure Universal and Seaworld are actually in the city.

Does anyone know?
 
#140 · (Edited)
its not, technically where i live isnt even orlando, it's oviedo. We are outside the city limits, but even though we are closer to oviedo we put orlando in our address, actually 5 minute bike ride and im the city proper of oviedo.

Miami is a huge city but the 'city limits' only include like..
Population (2006)
- City 404,048
, same with orlando.

The 'city' that disney is located in (lake buena vista) has apopulation of 15 people :lol:but it is considered part of 'greater orlando' like where i live is, But just like miami beach etc are considered 'miami' even though they are techincally not even in miami..

Oh and btw orlando is now the second-largest convention complex in terms of space in the United States, trailing only McCormick Place in Chicago
 
#142 · (Edited)
i know its not in japan but you were talking about sydney being well known in japan, NYC is more known in japan than sydney is.

Telling potential customers "you idiots just don't understand how great the product I am selling really is, you're pathetic" will not help change your brand perception in a positive way; it will instead just turn people off to your product all together.
I find it quite sad that americans themselves even need to be told where and what orlando is(not talking about you but others), americans must really suck at geography to not even know one of their most known cities and think it has like 10 tourists, and of those are american tourists. Orlando obviously has no international tourism right? You would think americans would be proud to have a city that attracts millions with its theme parks instead they just think its a worthless city that no one even knows about, quite sad.

But what do you expect from the people that voted a monkey for president twice.
 
#143 ·
I find it quite sad that americans themselves even need to be told where and what orlando is, americans must really suck at geography to not even know one of their most known cities and think it has like 10 tourists, and of those are american tourists. Orlando obviously has no international tourism right? You would think americans would be proud to have a city that attracts millions with its theme parks instead they just think its a worthless city that no one even knows about, quite sad.

But what do you expect from the people that voted a monkey for president twice.
Well remember, I don't believe the majority of Americans have an opinion of Orlando either way; this is a much better position to be in than if Americans had an all-around negative opinion of Orlando. It's not necessarily true that Americans find Orlando to be a "worthless city". Think of this as an opportunity to inform American tourists about what the City of Orlando has to offer in and above its theme parks. America is a massive country, both in terms of land area and population, and there are a lot of mid-tier metros competing for tourist and convention dollars. Off the top of my head, Orlando is in direct competition with Vegas, San Diego, Tampa, Phoenix and a bunch of other 2-3 million-person metros for convention hosting and domestic tourism; it's much harder for mid-sized American metros to position themselves than it is for, say, Japanese metros; there are just many more options for American tourists to spend their hard-earned money in.

As for electing a monkey, I couldn't agree with you more . . . and Florida played a large role in making this possible ;)
 
#144 · (Edited)
of course because of old people and your average ignorant american that believes the world was made in 7 days and doesnt know where beijing is etc,and as you can see even people from miami and tampa think orlando sucks and has 4 tourists a year, quite sad(cant imagine what folks from other states think of the city :eek:hno:). The fact that this clown still has a 27% approval rating just shows how sad the mentality of some are, how can more then 1/4 of americans approve of this clown? :dunno:

Anyways talking about conventions
The convention industry is also critical to the region's economy. The Orange County Convention Center, expanded in 2004 to over two million square feet (200,000 m²) of exhibition space, is now the second-largest convention complex in terms of space in the United States, trailing only McCormick Place in Chicago. The city vies with Chicago and Las Vegas for hosting the most convention attendees in the United States
 
#150 · (Edited)
i now officially hate orlando.

and maki, most of us didn't vote for that monkey that first time around. that's a fact.

why are we even arguing about orlando?! i dont even think it was an option on the survey. we are basically arguing that the non-existent rank of a city is too high or low. wtf are we doing?!
 
#152 ·
Now come on...that's not a decent way to be. Just because Orlando isn't internationally well-known doesn't mean it's crap. There are amazing smaller cities and towns all over the world that aren't well-known but are far from crap. I'm sure Orlando has merits and issues just like every other city...
 
#154 ·
Small sample size issue

BTW: Your mileage may vary with this survey, as they say. 15,255 people on a planet with over 6.5 billion is a pathetically small sample size from which to draw these conclusions. We have no idea, for example, how many of this silly sample size was drawn from Australia (thus giving Sydney it's ridiculously high ranking on almost every measure).

And, we have no idea what the "proprietary" methodology is that produced these results. The fact that it was web-based without human interaction makes it immediately suspect. Surveys like this produced by marketing firms are notoriously suspect, in any event.

If I wanted to, I'm sure I could devise a survey making Orlando the most identifiable city on the planet. Well maybe not, but you get my point :)
 
#157 ·
Houston ranking in being a worldwide city is kind of confusing. It's like the city is known worldwide than it is not. I doubt Houston is #61! I've seen photos of pictures where Houston skyline was on pictures in other countries and also being the "Energry/Oil Capital of the World" I definatly think Houston is on its way to being a international city,if not already.
 
#158 ·
houston is an international city, and a huge one at that. i think we have like 90 different languages here. we are the 9th most visited city in the country. people from all around the world come here and work here because of the major oil and energy companies. people also come from around the world to go to the texas medical center to get treated. its the biggest medical center in the world i believe and it is one of the most prestigous if it isnt the most. and we also have the johnson space center which is pretty international. we have an international fair every year featuring a different county each year. we have the largest rodeo in the country that lasts for a whole month. and i might be wrong but after san fransico and new york i think we have the largest chinatown in the country after those two.

houston i think is really 1-25 in international rank.
 
#159 · (Edited)
lets not forget that the ranking is only of 60 chosen cities, not the top 60 world cities. i imagine selection was fairly arbitrary. and houston probably does not belong on the list. i cannot think of a single landmark i associate with houston. all i know is that it's in texas, a little inland and has really tall buildings. and i know a lot. ;) i would hesitate place it higher than tenth in the us, somewhere near san diego...

ps. the thing that makes sf's chinatown (and ny's to a certain extent) is its age)
 
#167 ·
And regarding Orlando, don't forget that there's a lot of people around the world that stopped watching Disney movies when they turned 10 and would rather visit art galleries than ride on roller coasters, or drive through French vineyards than on an interstate. I'm not suprised Orlando isn't on the list.
 
#171 ·
People keep arguing with others' perceptions. Houston is well known in the US but, as I understand it, this is a poll from around the world- so you gotta understand not everyone outside the US spends anytime thinking about Houston.
I honestly didn't know anything about this huge medical center in Houston until I started reading about it on this site- and I consider myself pretty well informed. But then again, I live in the northeast, so I think more about Boston, New York and Baltimore (Johns Hopkins) as being medical leaders.

One poster mentioned all the people from around the world who've gone to that medical center, but honestly, unless they polled one of those people, I doubt that would matter.
 
#176 ·
While Houston is certainly in the top tier of medical cities, many cities are international medical centers. Different cities tend to be the best in different fields, or for certain very specific conditions. Seattle has its share (probably to a lesser degree), along with Boston, MSP, LA, SF, etc.
 
#173 ·
HEY! why wasnt san jose on the list? we almost have a million residents, we have a skycraper thats almost 300ft high, we have a professional sports team, good weather, one of the largest egyptian museums in the country, and are home to internationally important companies like adobe and cisco. why arent we on the list?! yes, this is is how y'all from orlando and houston sound to the rest of us. :weird:
 
#177 ·
What a funny read. You Americans sure get wound up when the rest of the world doesn’t worship the ground you all walk on. I love the US and I spend a lot of time south of the border. But one of you biggest failings is your perception of how great a country you live in. You are all brainwashed in to believing you live in the greatest country in the world, and everywhere else is crap. Even the guy living in the trailer with the 6 rusted cars out the front and no medical coverage believes it. Yes the US is a great country but so are many others.

I’m not surprised that Sydney tops the list. What immediately comes to mind when someone mentions Sydney or Australia? Warm sandy beaches filled with friendly bronzed surfers. Or a glistening harbor with a beautiful bridge and opera house. Most people would love to visit the place. Mention the cities Houston or Orlando to someone living in London and what would their reaction be, most likely one of indifference, if they are polite, but mention Sydney and see the reaction you get.

As Shawn has pointed out, perception and reality can be two different things.
 
#179 ·
I wanted to write something like this earlier, but I figured I'd get crucified for being "anti-American" or a "self-hating American." Due to the massive size of the US, both in terms of population and land area, Americans are generally less internationally-traveled than citizens of other post-industrial states. As a consequence, we aren't all that aware of how the rest of the world perceives us (or our cities). When I read comments like "Hey, Houston is sooo international, it's totally a Top 20 city!", all I can do is shake my head.
 
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